Norristown Area High School band volunteer pleads guilty to sexual assault

COURTHOUSE  A former volunteer Norristown Area High School Marching Band technician pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court Thursday to sex crimes involving two teenage girls.

Steven M. Fitzgerald, 26, of the 6700 block of Grant Avenue, Pennsauken, N.J., pleaded guilty to statutory sexual assault and two counts of corruption of minors in connection with encounters he had with two girls more than three years ago.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, on May 6, 2010, just before 3 p.m., police received reports of a sexual assault that had occurred in West Norriton Township involving two underage female students from Norristown Area High School (NAHS).

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The perpetrator was identified as Fitzgerald, who met one of the victims during her freshman year while she was a member of the high school marching band. At the time, Fitzgerald worked as the band technician.

According to court papers, Fitzgerald began contacting the girl through Facebook and Twitter, which led to text messaging.

On May 6, 2010, Fitzgerald reportedly picked up the two teenagers after school in the 400 block of North Whitehall Road in West Norriton and drove them to the parking lot of an abandoned building on the grounds of the Norristown State Hospital.

One of the girls left and went for a walk, while the other stayed with Fitzgerald in the car, at which point Fitzgerald reportedly told her to perform a sexual act.

After the alleged assault, Fitzgerald drove both girls to a Wawa in East Norriton and bought them cigarettes before parking behind the Masonic Lodge on Burnside Avenue.

There, he reportedly coerced the second victim to perform the same acts as the first. He then dropped both girls off where he had picked them up and reportedly told them he was a teacher at Cheltenham High School.

Over the course of the following few months, police said Fitzgerald contacted the girls to arrange another meet-up and police intervened.

We sought jail time against the defendant because he used his position of authority to take advantage of two students, said Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Lupo. He violated the trust they had in him by using Facebook and text messages to groom them into a sexual encounter. Parents rely on schools to be a safe place for their children and unfortunately, the defendant, who was much older than the victims, ruined that through his actions.